Are You Alright?
by Roaddog 469
Summary: Happens before the movie...the rocky relationship between Dom and one of Mia's friends. Slightly Sueish so if that bothers you don't read it. PG13 for cussing, no sex (dangit)...Enjoy, please R/R.
1. Pt. 1

"I would have understood, Ali," Mia Toretto said after her best friend, Aliana Sanchez, spilled her guts to her about the beating that her boyfriend had given her this morning. Apparently after Aliana had caught her steady, Steven, in the parking lot of their apartment with some other girl, Aliana had gone down and smacked the girl around a little before Steven went after her. Aliana said that she had taken at least six or seven solid shots to the stomach before the neighbors broke them up. "You didn't have to bring the book back today."

"Yeah," she sighed, "but I needed…I promised."

"You're better than this, Ali. I don't know why you ever gave that prick the time of day."

"Maybe because he's the only prick that was giving _me_ the time of day."

"You don't need a man, Aliana, you are a strong independent woman and that means you can make it on your own."

"I have no argument with that, Mia, but I need sex. Now I don't own a vibrator and unless your brother is interested in a mercy fuck then I have a problem."

 "Aliana," Dominic said from behind her, as Aliana closed her eyes, in embarrassment. 

What was it about being around this man that just made her a babbling idiot? Ever since high school. She really didn't need this today, though. With her belly black and blue she really wanted to avoid Dominic. If not for her sake then, at least, for Steven's because if Dom saw her bruises, chances were they would be returned ten-fold onto Steven. She opened her eyes and gave Mia a piercing look, before attempting to answer him. She exhaled deeply, trying to remain cool.  "Dom," she said surprisingly steady as she turned to face him. "What's up?"

"Was wondering the same thing," Dom said leaning on the counter.

"Not much. Just returning a book to Mia," she said stepping away from the counter, trying her best to downplay her pain. "And now I gotta go," she said, starting for the door. "Later, Mia."

"You know," Dom said as he followed her out the door. "You're idling a little fast."

"No, I'm not," Ali protested. He still liked to think of her as the kid who wasn't sure where the coolant went in her car, but the reality was that she had learned a lot in the last four or five years.

"Yes, you are," he replied, calmly.

"I am not," she replied with an edge.

Dom stared over at her smiling, "Fine, Ali. Always have to have the last word. Guess some things never change, huh?" he asked, elbowing her playfully in the side. Ali's face contorted as pain shot through her midsection and despite her best efforts she inhaled sharply. _Shit_, she thought to herself, as she watched the look of realization cross Dom's features. For a split second, it was replaced by rage, then it was gone, hidden skillfully behind a cool façade. Then he smiled. "You got a minute?"

"Well, I…um," Ali stuttered and she swore at herself for faltering in front of him. 

"I need an extra ear on this engine. Only take a couple of minutes."

"Well, you see, the thing is-" she was cut off by his very muscled arm wrapped, insistently, around her shoulder, "Ok, sure, glad to help," she said quickly as he pulled her into the garage.

"Ali," Letty said, never moving from under the car.

"Letty," Ali replied coolly. Letty was pretty cool, but imagining that she was a bitch made her having Dominic somewhat easier for Ali to swallow.

"Hey, kid," Vince said looking up, and eyeing her carefully. Ali often thought that this man was constantly looking for a hole. Preferably a hole connected to a woman that had no interest in him. Before he had developed this school boyish crush on Mia, it had been Letty. Luckily, being a little on the wide-assed side, Aliana never had to worry about it, but the way he looked at her still made her uncomfortable.

"Vince," she replied. 

"You wanna look at this for me, Ali," Dom said, catching her attention.

"I thought you said 'listen'."

"Meant look," he said as he leaned over the car, and then looked back up at her. "Nice shirt, Aliana."

_Oh shit,_ she thought to herself, _here it comes._

"You don't want to get that full of oil, do ya'?"

"Don't have anything to change into, Dom," she replied quickly.

"I'm sure I've got something."

_I was afraid of that,_ she thought to herself. "Let me worry about my own clothes."

"Oh come on," he said, straightening up and moving towards her. 

She wrapped her arms protectively around her pudgy middle. "You know?" she began, backing up, "I gotta get going." He continued towards her, as she continued to retreat. Stepping back, she bumped into the front quarter panel of a car, and for the second that she couldn't move back, Dom closed the distance between them. Moving her hands down she grabbed the hem of her shirt, as Dom made the same move. "Dom!" she cried, as he tried to pull up. "Dom!" she repeated, still holding it down. "Letty, your man is trying to grope me." That brought her out from under the car, and Vince chanced a few steps closer, but Dom was relentless. 

"What the hell are you doin', Dom?" Letty demanded. Ali began to thank God that Letty was the jealous type, but then Dom shot a look at Letty that froze her in her tracks.

_Shit!_ Ali thought to herself, as she felt the hem of her shirt slip from her grasp. Dom took advantage pulling up one last time, exposing her black and blue belly. Exhaling deeply, still holding her shirt up, Dom asked quietly, "What is that?" Ali remained quiet, looking everywhere to avoid meeting Dom's eyes. "Aliana, I said 'what is-"

"I heard what you said, Dominic," she began, finally meeting his glare. She yanked back on her shirt and Dom let it go. "I got mugged," she paused, and watched a look of disbelief cross Dom's face. "I was in a car wreck." He stared her down, and she even surprised herself by meeting his gaze as she continued, "My boyfriend beat the shit out of me," she paused again, then continued. "I got bored this morning and wanted to see exactly how much pressure I could apply to my ribs before one fractured. Now why don't you pick whichever explanation makes you the happiest, Dom. Or you could just accept the fact that you already know what happened and let me go home."

"What so he can beat the shit out of you, again? I don't think so. Vince, go to her apartment and bring that sack of shit here."

"Wait just a goddamned minute, here," Ali said in a voice approaching a shout. "I don't seem to recall asking for your help in this Dom. I'm handling this problem."

"Yeah," Dom replied, "You look like you've been handling it real well. Vince, go."

"Vince, wait. Look Dom this isn't any of your fucking business."

"You show up at my garage with a belly looking like a Canadian sunrise, and you tell me it's none of my business? Vince, go, now. And don't come back without him."

"Goddammit, Dominic!" Ali shouted, reaching into her back pocket, she started walking towards Vince's car. Producing her switchblade, the four-inch blade flicked out as she approached the driver's side front tire, and jammed the blade in, causing the car to lurch downward, she then walked calmly to the back tire and flattened it too.

"Son of a bitch!" Vince shouted as he approached her. She folded up her blade and reached into her bra for her cash. She tossed three fifties at Vince it was all of her money but worth it.

"Sorry, Vince. If it's more, let me know." She stormed back to Dominic. "No, Dom, it isn't any of your fucking business. I didn't show up here to ask for your help. I didn't even show up here to see you. You're the one butting in, and taking over. You can't keep doing this shit, Dom. I'm not a kid anymore. I'm 23. Now Steven is my problem and I will handle it. Because I control my life, Dominic…not you." That said she turned on her heel, and stomped to her car. Tumbling into it, she disregarded her protesting ribs as she revved the engine, slammed the car into reverse and squealed out of the lot. 

Ali circled her apartment complex several times before she could remember which building was hers. Jesus, she was pissed. She couldn't believe that he was doing it again. He always did this to her. She might as well still be the scared fifteen-year-old kid that he stopped the older boys from picking on. When was he going to realize that she wasn't a kid anymore, and let her make her own mistakes and clean up her own messes? If Mia wanted to put up with it that was her business, but Ali had had enough. 

She screeched into her parking space in front of the building she finally recognized as hers. _Dammit,_ she thought to herself as she noticed Steven's Dodge still parked in his spot, _I don't need this now. I just wanted to get in and grab some stuff and go get a room for the night._ She paused for a few seconds trying to decide what to do, _Fuck him, _she decided to herself, _it's my apartment too. I have as much right to be there as he does._ She nodded to herself, got out of the car, and headed up the stairs to her apartment.


	2. Pt. 2

"What do you want me to do, Letty? Just let this asshole use her as a punching bag?" Dom shouted, in the heat of a five-beer argument. 

"That's not what I'm saying and you know it. I'm saying she may still be a kid, but you can't go around treating her like a ten-year-old or she's going to pull back from you, and then where will that leave you?"

"So I should just sit here until she comes to me? She could be comatose by the time she realizes that she needs help."

"Then you be there for her when she comes out of her coma. You can't run her life, Dominic."

"So this is all my fault, is that what you're saying?"

"No," she began, "one of you is just as stubborn as the other. She has to grow up and realize that part of growing up is asking for help. And you have to grow up and realize that you can't solve everything with your fists and a ¾ inch socket wrench."  The reference to Dom's prison record stopped him cold, and Letty wanted to take it back as soon as the words left her mouth. She opened her mouth to apologize, but she knew how pointless any words would be at this point, so she just let the words hang. He covered his face with both hands and leaned back in his chair. She watched his chest rise and fall, shakily. Almost certain that he was crying, Letty didn't want to embarrass him any further, so she stood silently and left. 

After he heard the door close behind Letty, he waited for a few moments before picking his head up. He stood and made his way to the kitchen, grabbing another Corona. He downed half of it in one pull. Maybe Letty had some good points, he thought to himself. He couldn't run Ali's life, no matter how horribly she was doing it. But dammit, this was not the time to keep out of it. The girl could have had some broken ribs today, and why? Because that other son of a bitch was pissed at her for some damn reason. It just didn't seem right.

And what the hell business was it of Letty's anyway? She didn't even like Ali. Why did she give a damn about the relationship between him and Ali? He took one more pull on the bottle, finishing the beer. He had just dropped the bottle in the trash can when the house's quiet was shattered by three quick knocks on the front door. He ran a hand over his face quickly to make sure there wasn't any remaining moisture there and made his way to the door. Looking out the window first, he saw a shadowed figure. 

A woman standing sideways on his porch, as though she was looking at something down the street. Long hair. Tubby. Looked kind of like Ali. He flipped the porch light on. It was Ali, but she didn't flinch at the sudden change in lighting, as if she'd been expecting it.

He opened the door, but she didn't move much. She remained where she was standing, giving him only a profile, looking down the street. "Hi, Dominic," she said quietly.

"Aliana," he replied, sticking his head out of the door, trying to see what she was looking at down the street. "What's up?"

"Not much," she sniffled. "Look, Dominic. Umm, you doing anything tonight?"

"No," he replied, suspiciously. 

"Nothing? No plans with Letty or Vince or anything?"

"No," he replied. "Letty and I had a fight and Vince has a date."

"Hmm," she snorted, "amazing."

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, Steven is still at my place and I need somewhere to crash for the night. I know I was kind of harsh earlier, but I was wondering if I could hang here, just until tomorrow morning when he goes to work."

"You know you're always welcome, Ali. Come on in."

"Now you're sure that you don't have any plans or anything like that?"

"What is the big deal?"

"Well, I just don't want to be left here all by myself. I mean if you have somewhere to go, then tell me now, and I'll go somewhere else, but I just don't want to be alone. So you're not going anywhere?"

"No."

"You swear? You give me your word?"

"Yes, Ali. You have my word."

"Ok," Ali said, as she turned completely away from him, to set the alarm on her car, then she turned to him full-face and he saw why she had been only half-facing him. Her left eye was deep purple and swollen almost shut, and her lip was split open and bleeding. 

"That son of a bitch!" Dominic yelled. "I'm gonna kill him." 

"Not tonight you're not," she said standing in his way. "You gave me your word that you weren't leaving me."

He looked down at her, suddenly realizing that he had fallen straight into that one.  "Dammit!" he exclaimed. "You sneaky little grease monkey."

She smiled as best she could, as she pushed her way past him, "Yeah, well, since you can't go and beat the shit out of him, how about you come in and patch me up?"

"Yeah, all right," he said closing the door behind them, following her to the kitchen.

"Where's Mia?" she asked conversationally, as she sat at the table.

"Study group."

"It's eleven thirty. That's some badass studying."

"Um-hmm," he agreed, as he walked out of the room, and up the stairs. She could hear him opening cabinets in the bathroom overhead.  _For Christ's sake, Ali,_ she thought to herself, _just tell him. _Her thoughts were interrupted by Dom's entrance back into the room. He held a small bottle in one hand, and a washcloth in the other. He set the bottle down on the table in front of her, and walked to the sink to dampen the washcloth. 

"Look, Dominic," she began, with his back still to her. "I wanted to…a—apologize for this morning. I know you were just trying to help, and maybe if I had listened to you, then I wouldn't be here now, bleeding on your table." She waited for him to turn around and fix her with that 'I told you so' stare of his, but he made no move to turn. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry," she finished, swallowing thickly. Still no movement from him, and she began to nervously fidget with the bottle that he had brought down, while she licked the blood from her lip. 

"Yeah, well, Ali…I'm…I'm sorry too." She raised an eyebrow at him. She definitely hadn't been expecting this. He turned towards her, "It isn't any of my business. And if you had wanted my help you would have asked for it."

"Well, that's true," she said as he straddled a chair in front of her. "But I still had no right to go off on you the way I did."

"That's true," he said, soaking some of the bottles contents onto one corner of the washcloth. 

"Especially since you're patching me up now."

"Yeah, well, since you did go off on me this morning, I'm really going to enjoy this part of it," he said as he touched the corner of the washcloth to her lip. 

"Ow," she cried, pulling back from the sting. He smiled to himself, as she narrowed her eyes at him. "That hurt."

"I know," he replied, using the other corner of the washcloth to wipe away the blood that had trickled down her chin. As he gently held one of his hands over hers, Ali blinked several times trying to clear her head of all of the thoughts that she was having about what she would like to do to him, now that they were alone together, preferably on this incredibly sturdy tabletop. Focusing on him again, she realized that he was looking at her, and she blushed, looking away.

"What?" he asked, half-laughing.

"Nothing really," she lied, then decided, '_Aw, what the hell_'.  "Just thinking how much I would love to have my way with you right here, right now." He sat back, mouth nearly agape. "Surprised by my blatant honesty? Come on, like you didn't know." 

"Well, yeah, but…"

"Awfully direct, huh? Well, I've decided to stop bullshitting people. You just happen to be at the top of my list. And since I'm on the subject and I'm coming clean, you want to know why I love you?"

"Oh, do tell," he replied.

"You remember back when Mia and I were in tenth grade? And there were those assholes at that corner store that used to always shout shit at me cause I was fat."

"Yeah, I remember."

"Well, I started thinking about finding another way home, but Mia said that I should stick it out. I didn't want to, but I thought Mia knew what she was talking about, so I just kept putting up with it. It never got any better, then you walked home with us one day. Now today, I can't remember how many of them there were or how old they were, or anything, the only thing I remember is that after it was all over with, you came to me and asked me if I was okay. You had just left these guys bloodied and battered, but you were checking to see if I was alright. I appreciated that, Dominic. And it felt damn good to know that you were there for me to ask me if I'm alright."

A slamming car door outside caught their attention. "I'm home," Mia called, as the front door opened.

"In the kitchen," Ali called as she sat back in her chair. 

"Ali," Mia said as she stepped into the kitchen. "What are you doing…Jesus, what happened to you?"

Ali smiled, and shook her head, "I'll tell you later, but I'm tired as hell, and I'm going to sleep."

"I take it you two kissed and made up?" Mia asked pulling a bottled water from the fridge.

"Unfortunately only made up," Ali said, smiling at Dominic. "But the almighty Dominic has taken pity on me and provided me with a place to sleep, at least for the night," she said standing, and stretching. "So, I'm going to take advantage and get some rest."

"Me too," Mia began, "'night, Dominic."

"Night," Dominic replied as he watched Mia go. "You can sleep in my room, Ali."

"Suppose it would be way too much to hope for that all of my gushy emotions got to you and you'll join me in bed, huh?"

"Yeah," he said, nodding, "too much to hope for."

"Well hell, then you keep your bed, Dominic. I'll sleep on the couch." She gathered some blankets from upstairs, and was laying them out on the couch when Dominic came in to say good night.

"You sure you'll be alright out here?" 

"Don't worry about me, Dom, I'll be fine."

"Ok," he replied, "Good night then."

She crawled under the blankets on the couch and listened to Dominic go up the stairs and move around overhead, until she fell asleep.


	3. Pt. 3

At about four fifteen in the morning, Dominic was shocked awake. He sat in the dark for a few seconds, trying to figure out exactly what had woken him. "Fuck you!" he heard shouted outside. _Oh_, he thought to himself, _that was it_. Well who the hell was shouting in his front yard, in the middle of the goddamned night? Standing, he recognized the voices. Steven, Ali's boyfriend, had followed her here. 

Looking through the window, he could tell just by his stance that Steven was drunk, and as he dodged in and out of the light, Dominic could see that Ali wasn't the only one who had walked away from their fight with bruises. Ali stood her ground now though, looking as fierce as she could in an oversized t-shirt. "You fat Kunt," Steven said loud enough for Dominic to hear. 

"Needle-dick bitch. Why don't you go and slip into some hot pants and stilettos?" _Nice one, Ali_, Dom thought to himself.

Steven apparently didn't appreciate the humor, however, and he pushed her. She was caught off guard and she stumbled a bit but didn't fall. She retaliated by running at him, full-speed head down; she hit him like a battering ram and threw him to the ground. 

"Bitch!" he shouted trying to get to his feet. 

As if she had just suddenly remembered where she was, Ali spoke up. "Keep your Goddamned voice down, Steven." 

"Why?! So I don't wake up that steroid-freak wop bastard that you're shacked up with?" 

"I'm not shacked up for Christ's sake. I'm here to keep one of us from killing the other."

"Oh so he's protecting you, is that it?"

"No, you asshole, he's protecting you. Now get the hell out of here." Standing back, Aliana gave him enough room to get up. When he finally managed it, he stumbled forward, and he swung open handed once, landing a loud slap to the bruised side of Ali's face. She didn't react right away, but when she did, she landed several punches to his face, before Steven regained the advantage. He had her by her collar, pounding her face with his fist. _Well that's enough of this shit_, Dominic decided as he headed down the stairs. As he came out of the front door, he could see that Ali wasn't moving. Not that that was stopping Steven. 

"Get the fuck off of her!" Dominic shouted as he came flying off the front porch.

"This don't concern you, Dominic!" Steven shouted back, not releasing the grip on Ali's collar.

Dominic stormed up and smacked Steven once in the face, hard enough to make his nose bleed. Concerned about the blood now leaking from his snout, Steven let go of Ali's shirt and her head hit the ground with a thud. "If it concerns her, then it concerns me," Dominic replied, "Go now, and I won't take out my frustrations on your face."

Steven began to speak, his voice nasal, "This is between me and her, and it doesn't conc—" Dom didn't even give him a chance to finish his sentence. 

Dominic swung once. A right uppercut to Steven's chin, and Steven was airborne. He landed flat on his back about three feet from where he had been standing. Looking up, he saw Dominic standing, protectively over Aliana. "If I ever hear that you've touched her again, I'll make that seem like a love tap."

Steven, even foggy minded, didn't think that Dom was bluffing, and he reconsidered the need to handle Ali right then, or ever again for that matter. Stumbling to his feet, he wiped at his freely bleeding mouth and took off running down the street.

Dom inhaled and exhaled a few times, trying to get a grip on his anger, deciding that this much anger shouldn't be bottled up, he started off down the street after Steven, but the pained cry from his feet brought him back to reality. 

Kneeling down beside her, even in the dark he could see that Aliana was in pretty bad shape. Her lip was bleeding again and her already existing black eye now had a small cut just to the left of her eye, which was oozing blood. A thin trail of blood ran from her left nostril to her lip. A small gash in her cheek was also bleeding. _Bastard was wearing a ring_, Dom thought to himself. The right side of her face was, also, beginning to swell with the promise of new bruises. "Ali," Dominic whispered, surprised by how weak he sounded. "Aliana," he said a little louder, shaking her shoulders slightly. He could see her eyes moving under her puffy eyelids, and slowly her right eye opened just enough for him to see her over-dilated pupil. "Are you alright?" 

She huffed a half-laugh through her swelling nose, before she nodded slowly, "Yeah, Dom, I'm good." With that, she was out again. Dom inhaled deeply before wrapping his arms around her back and under her knees, and he lifted. Cradling her to his chest he made his way onto the front steps and after a few seconds arguing with the door, he managed to get it open. He started towards the living room, meaning to put her back on the couch, but stopped halfway there. The idea of her waking up alone in the middle of the night or even the next morning, broke his heart, so he retreated, and began up the steps. With both of their weight, the stairs creaked more than usual and he was worried that he would wake Mia, but she didn't stir and Dom made it to his room with Aliana. 

He laid her flat on her back on the side of the bed that he had been in. Pulling the covers up to her shoulders, he smoothed her hair out of her face. After a quick trip to the bathroom he returned with a damp hand towel, and he gently wiped the blood from her face. When he was convinced that he had gotten everything, he tossed the towel into the corner of the room and moved to the other side of the bed. Lying on top of the blankets, he laced his fingers behind his head and closed his eyes, hoping to get **some** sleep. 

Aliana moaned next to him, and he looked over just as she rolled onto her side, now facing him. She scooted her body closer to his, until her head rested next to his chest. Now more than slightly uncomfortable, Dom considered slipping out of bed and waking Mia. Let her sleep in here. But looking down at Ali, he smiled at what he saw. Her hands folded in front of her face as if praying, her knees tucked into her stomach in a fetal position, she looked like a child. Despite all of her arguing and fighting, cussing and cursing, she was still just a kid, whether she wanted to admit it or not. Seeing how peaceful she looked he wasn't about to risk waking her, so he closed his eyes once again, and drifted off.

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Aliana woke feeling as though she hadn't slept in two weeks, and her face hurt, and she was having a hard time opening her good eye. _What the hell happened?_ She asked herself, still somewhere between awake and aware. _Oh shit!_ she suddenly realized, _Steven showed up. That's right, Steven was here. And we were fighting and he hit me and that is the last thing I remember. So where am I now?_ _I suppose I could open my eye and find out._ Realizing that that was a good solution, Ali forced her eye open. 

All she saw was a bronze block of color. She blinked several times to see if she could clear her vision, when it did clear she realized what she was looking at was the side of a chest. Also beginning to take in her surroundings, she realized she wasn't on the couch. Pushing herself up onto her elbow, she realized she was in Dom's room, in Dom's bed, lying next to Dom. "How did that happen?" she asked herself under her breath. Slowly the night's events began to come back to her.

She remembered Steven showing up, and she went out to talk to him. He started yelling and then he hit her. She hit him back but then he got the upper hand. She remembered him wailing on her face, holding her by the collar. She had been rocked with the urge to scream, but she hadn't wanted to give him the satisfaction, so she had remained silent. She had heard Dom come out of the house, and after he popped Steven, Steven had released his death-grip on her shirt. Unable to stop herself, her head hit the pavement, loosening her grip on reality, and the blackness had swarmed in. Now here she was. 

As she watched Dom's chest rise and fall, he stirred in his sleep, and as he opened his eyes he looked over at her. "You're awake."

"Yeah," she whispered.

"You alright?"

She smiled as much as she could, "Yeah, I think so. My face hurts."

"Understandable," he replied, rubbing his eyes, and Ali noticed the bruises on his knuckles. She opened her mouth to comment, but decided to leave it alone. "You scared me you know. I wasn't sure you were gonna wake up this morning."

"Sorry," she apologized without even thinking about it. 

He propped up on his elbow, his face inches from hers. He took her face gently in one hand, turning her face to the left and right observing the damage. He shook his head, "I can take care of him for you, Aliana, you just let me know."

"He isn't worth the effort, Dominic, but I appreciate the gesture." 

Dom brought her face to his, and planted a chaste kiss on her forehead (about the only part of her face that wasn't bruised or cut). "I'm just glad you're okay." He sat up then, and after throwing his legs over the edge of the bed, he stood and stretched. "Well, I need coffee. You coming?"

"Yeah, I'll be down in a minute."

"You need any help?"

She smiled, "No, Dom, I think you've helped me plenty. I can make it from here." He nodded and left the room. She sat up in bed, pondering. As the warmth from his body faded away, she realized something. All these years she had been calling her lust for Dom love, but it hadn't been love at all. 

Dominic had always been there for her, and last night was just one more example. And she knew now that he always **would** be there for her, no matter what idiotic thing she did for sake of her ego or her pride, he would always be there. That was love. And at that moment she was positive that she would love Dominic Toretto for the rest of her life. Love him, she decided as she swung her feet to the floor, in the true emotional sense of the word…and maybe occasionally cop a good feel.


End file.
